World Scene: Indonesia

Huge marine park launched

Indonesia has opened Southeast Asia's largest marine park in the Savu Sea, a migration route for almost half the world's whale species and home to vast tracts of rare coral, the country's fisheries minister said.

Environmental groups, The Nature Conservancy and WWF will help set up the reserve. Tourism activities and subsistence fishing by locals will be allowed but restricted to certain areas.

The Savu Marine National Park, launched at the World Ocean Conference in Manado, Sulawesi, will cover 3.5 million hectares in an area of 500 species of coral, 14 species of whales and 336 species of fish living in the Savu Sea near Flores in eastern Indonesia.

"(It is) potentially one of the largest marine protected areas in the Coral Triangle," Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries Freddy Numberi said on Wednesday.

(China Daily 05/15/2009 page10)